Starbuck movie poster
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Starbuck
Starbuck movie poster

Starbuck Movie Review

Now available on Blu-ray and DVD (Buy on Amazon)

Later this year, Vince Vaughn will star in the comedy Delivery Man, about a man who discovers that he, through repeated sperm donations years earlier, has fathered hundreds of children. Little do most Americans know, but that movie is based on a French-Canadian film called Starbuck, an entertaining and heartwarming drama-comedy that is now on DVD.

Starbuck stars Patrick Huard as David Wozniak, a down-on-his-luck man who is in debt tens of thousands of Euros to shady individuals, works a dead-end job for his father and has just learned that his on-and-off-again girlfriend is pregnant. Oh, and hundreds of children he didn't know existed have filed a lawsuit against a sperm clinic to reveal his identity.

A pretty typical day.

What ensues is a surprisingly endearing movie that perfectly balances humor with down-to-earth drama. Starbuck is rarely laugh-out-loud funny, but consistently entertaining. And when David starts interacting with his "children," the movie clicks into high gear; the connections he makes feel sincere and believable, thanks to nuance that I can only assume will be missing from the Vince Vaughn version.

The movie isn't perfect, however. The relationship between David and Valerie (Julie LeBreton) is slightly underdeveloped. The final few minutes of the film also are a little anticlimactic, even cheesy. And at nearly two hours long, it would have benefited from some tightening.

Despite a few flaws, Starbuck is a thoroughly  enjoying and accessible comedy-drama. Somehow I'm guessing I won't be saying the same about Delivery Man.

Review by Erik Samdahl unless otherwise indicated.

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